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Spam king Richter must pay $6m to MySpace

Fine lower than expected

Self-styled 'King of Spam' Scott Richter has been ordered to pay $6m in legal
fees and damages for spamming MySpace subscribers in August 2006.

Richter's company, Media Breakaway, stated that it will not appeal against
the decision because the amount is considerably lower than MySpace had
originally sought.

MySpace had accused Richter and his Colorado-based company of sending
unsolicited emails to thousands of MySpace customers purporting to be from
MySpace friends promoting a website called consumerpromotionscenter.com.

The social networking site said that Media Breakaway obtained the addresses
through phishing attacks.

But Richter claimed that he has broken no laws and that the phishing was done
by affiliate organisations working for Media Breakaway.

MySpace had only two security staff at the time and admitted that it was
unable to cope. The site now has more than 40.

MySpace sued Richter in January 2007 seeking damages under California's
Can-Spam Act. The legislation awards $100 per email sent, which would have run
into hundreds of millions of dollars.

But in August 2007, a Californian district judge accepted Richter's plea to
have the case referred to arbitration. Philip Boesch, the court-appointed
arbiter, reached his decision this week.

Richter's previous company, OptInRealBig.com, was bankrupted in 2005 when
Microsoft and the New York Attorney General sued Richter for spamming.

They were asking for $50m, but Richter settled with Microsoft for $7m and the
New York Attorney General for $50,000.

Earlier this month MySpace won a
record
$230m in damages against spammers Sanford Rines and Scott Wallace, who fled
before judgement was handed down.